Kiss Of Life
by spit-fire extraordinaire
Summary: Why couldn't he have protected her? Why had it been her in the first place? What I'm pretty sure we all wanted to happen when Eric kiss Snow White.
1. Chapter 1

**I know I posted a SWATH fic just yesterday but I was just thinking "Snow and Eric should've made out after he kissed her to life" because, you know, I'm a fan girl like that and I live vicariously through fictional characters. **

**Okay, so this is a different take on when Eric kissed Snow back to life, he stays and um…you know: ) **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not, and probably never will own, Snow White and The Huntsman. Darn.**

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How could he have let this happen? Why hadn't he awoken when Snow had, why hadn't he followed her?

Why couldn't God just give him a damned break?

He loved her, he knew that as soon as her wonderful heart had stopped beating. Only had he felt like this with Sara and maybe then a little less because he hadn't been able to see her dead body. His last memory of her was a soft kiss and a wave goodbye, but all he would ever remember of Snow was a cold body on a bed of furs.

And now here he was, in the chamber where her body now laid, attempting to drink his sorrows away. Eric stared at her, hoping that his will alone could bring her back to him. It was no use though, of course it wasn't. William had bloody kissed her and nothing had happened. And wasn't True Love's kiss supposed to break any spell? _Maybe he wasn't her true love_, there went that treacherous voice again, filling his shredded heart with hope despite his best efforts to remain realistic.

A drunken huntsman had no business loving a princess, no matter how beautiful or brave. But in another world…No. There was no other world. There was here and now where the only two people he had ever loved where gone because he was undeserving.

Somewhere, his thoughts had become speech, and his legs had started to circle Snow's body. "I'm so sorry I failed you…so sorry. But you're in heaven now and will sit among the angels." His tears were dripping onto her cool cheek and running down her face as if they were her own.

Taking a look at her beautiful lips Eric decided that he could at least taste her once before they put her into the ground and he never saw her again. So he brought his chapped lips down onto her perfectly innocent ones, another metaphor for their nonexistent relationship, and tried to imagine that she was kissing him back. He pulled back when the pain become unbearable and rested his head on her chest, where her heart should have been beating.

He must have drank too much because all of a sudden he could've sworn it _was_. Eric decided he must be dreaming because he felt her chest heave and heard her deep breathing. "Huntsman?" Her beautiful voice asked, his mind must have been paying more attention to her than he had thought. "Where are we?" His head snapped up and Eric realized that no, he wasn't dreaming or hallucinating or anything like that. She was here. She was here because _he had kissed her_. "Huntsman?"

"You're alive." He breathed.

"Yes…where are we?" Snow asked again.

"The Duke's castle." Eric quickly told her. "I can't believe you are alive." His face quickly broke into a giant smile, barely able to contain his happiness, for surely she knew…

"How?" His heart broke all over again. She didn't know.

Eric quickly stood and took a step away from her. "True Love's kiss." He mumbled.

"Who kissed me? Was it William?" This hurt worse than words could describe, she loved William. Of course she did, it was the way things were supposed to be.

"But of course, Princess." He bit out, turning to leave while he could still rein in his tears.

"Oh…" That word promptly stopped him in his tracks. It wasn't the voice one would use when they were just told who their soul mate was. No, she sounded…disappointed.

Eric turned around. "Are you not…happy?" He was letting himself hope, which was a bad idea in and of itself, but…maybe she…could she possibly?

Snow looked down and played with her fingers. "Well, I've been dreaming of William loving me my whole life. He was always my Prince, my savior, even though he had abandoned me." He turned to leave again. "But then…I met you," He stopped. "And you are nothing alike, nothing like I ever dreamed. You're brash and rugged and incredibly _rude_ but…I'd rather it had been you who kissed me then William." She finished shyly, barely looking at him through her long, dark eyelashes.

He quickly crossed the space between them and took her lips in his. Snow innocently moaned at the contact and brought her hands around his neck. It was a long moment before Eric realized that nothing had changed. He was still a commoner and she was still a princess. "I'm sorry." He murmured as he broke away. "That was a mistake, I had no place doing that…Forgive me, Princess."

Snow shook her head quickly. "There's nothing to forgive, Huntsman."

"Eric." It came out before he could even think of stopping himself. "My name is Eric." He quickly stepped out of her arms and put as much distance between them as he could bare.

She smiled at him again and stepped away from the table where they had laid her. "Then there is nothing to forgive, Eric."

"I-This isn't right. It's not my place, you should-"

"I should what? Marry William, is that what you want from me?" Snow took another step towards him and he found himself unable to take a step away. "Is it, Eric?" Another step and she was close enough to touch him.

"Of course not!" He bit out. "But it is what is expected of you."

"So?" She countered. "I was never known for doing what was expected of me." Snow laughed quietly. "I love _you_, Eric. I will never have anybody else."

"You deserve better!" Eric finally roared.

"What do you mean?"

"I have failed you. I should've protected you, I should've protected Sara. But I didn't and she's dead! I…everything I've ever cared about has been taken away from me. It would be better if you just stayed away."

"Eric…" God, why did he have to tell her his name? He didn't know if she knew how much of an influence it had on him, to hear her saying his name like a caress. Snow most likely didn't, which made it all the more alluring.

Before she could say anything, William appeared in the doorway. "Snow, you're alive!"

He ran up and swept her in his arms, his booming laugh vibrating through her body. "Oh, thank the Lord."

Snow smiled uneasily down at him. "Can you put me down, Will?"

"Oh, of course." William set her onto the ground easily and began talking excitedly about things that really didn't matter to her at the moment. One significant detail was reverberating through her mind: Eric was nowhere to be seen.

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**So I tried to finish this story all in one go but…I just couldn't. It demands a second chapter, maybe even a third. It won't be terribly long but there is no way this can be a oneshot…I mean, it could've but I hate those incredibly long ones where you just keep thinking "Why can't this be divided in chapters?"**

**I hope you guys liked it: ) Please favorite, alert, and review. There might be a Huntsman waiting on your doorstep if you do; ) **

**Love Always,**

**Spit-fire**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yes, yes, I am back to finish this story: ) Finally. **

**Sorry about the long wait but, you know, life. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own this movie and am not profiting from this story. **

**PS: Can you believe Kristen cheated on Rob? Why couldn't she cheat on him with, like, Chris Hemsworth or someone attractive? **

**PSS: I hate Twilight, by the way.**

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Eric is currently packing away his meager belongings with a heavy heart. It is done; Snow is queen of the realm and she no longer needs a huntsman's protection. She has an army now.

Don't take this to mean that's he's given up, that he's just laying down. He's not, not really. It's just that…there's no way for this to work. He is a commoner and she is a _queen_. It is an age-old argument but the reason it's age-old is because it's concrete. Eric would fight for her if he knew there was a chance. _She loves you, isn't that chance enough? You could ask her to leave, she would follow you_. And she would, Eric is sure. For all her bravery and wisdom, Snow White is still a young girl who has no business ruling a kingdom and she knows this. It was a fight just getting her to accept the thrown. He has no doubt that she will be a magnificent queen but it's not what she wants…yes, it wouldn't be hard at all to get her to follow him.

It's a tempting idea, far too tempting, but Eric knows what life with him would be like. He knows no home, just murky taverns with beds and cold, barren streets. For all his misgivings and flaws, Eric loves Snow too much to expose her to that part of the world. "You're just going to leave then?" He's pulled from his thoughts by the very reason for his pain, Queen Snow White.

"It looks that way." He turns from her and resumes his packing.

"Why?" She is persistent, like an innocent child who doesn't know how to give up yet.

"I do not have a place here." Eric says simply, willing himself not to look her in the eye. "I do not tend to stay where I have no place, my Queen."

"Don't call me that!" Her outburst surprises him. He has never seen her angry. "I-I don't want you to call me that, Eric."

Finally, he turns around to face her. And just like every time he looks at her, is breath is taken away and his heart beats faster than should be possible. Long forgotten is the finery she has worn all day long, instead she is wearing a simple peasant's dress. Eric is suddenly hit with visions of a cottage near the dwarves, waking up to her beautiful face every morning. A child with her eyes and his blonde hair…All of it so clear he can almost taste it. Almost. Eric pulls himself out of it before he can fall to his knees in grief over what can never be. "It seems like that is neither my place, nor my right, my Queen."

"Like hell it is!" Once again, the outburst surprises him. This time, it apparently surprises Snow as well. She stops short and blushed rapidly. "I don't want you to go." She murmured, her raven hair hiding her beautifully blushing face.

Eric's defenses soften. "I don't want to go." He admits, even though he knows he shouldn't.

Snow's face whips up and hope builds in her eyes. "Then stay…please." She's stepped closer to him, her small hand reaching for his large, calloused one. "If you love me, you'll stay."

Without really meaning to the hand that isn't ensnared with hers is reaching for her tiny waist and pulling her to him. Those words were treacherous and much more under-handed than he would ever guess the innocent queen capable of. "You know how I feel about you, Snow." Eric says gently, painfully wishing that his next sentence didn't have to be uttered. "But I'm not right for the kingdom or-or you, despite what you may think. I am no king. I am not worthy of what you are offering me."

"I disagree with you." She says pressingly, her lovely green eyes widening with her sincerity.

His lips pull up in a sad grin. "I know you do."

"Eric, if you weren't worthy of me, than you wouldn't have been able to wake me up. If you weren't worthy of me, than you wouldn't have protected me. Despite what you think, you are not the lost cause you seem to believe you are. You are a good man…" She pauses for a second and the eye contact she has kept with him this whole time breaks for a fraction of a second. "I can think of no one more worthy to love."

He can feel his heart breaking. "Please don't say that."

She doesn't listen, she's never listened. "I love you, Eric." His queen whispers. "Say it back."

"I-I love you."

Snow's returning smile is so blinding and happy that Eric can scarcely believe he's the cause. He's almost certain this is all a dream, actually. "Stay?" It's a shy question, like even after all that she expects him to say he's still going to leave. Eric can't really blame her, he expects him to say no, too.

They're both surprised. "Yes."

And like every happy ending, their's is sealed with a smile and a kiss.

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**Alright, there it is: ) **

**Sorry I kept you guys waiting for so long; life sometimes demands my attention. **

**Haha, anyway tell me what you thought. I hope you enjoyed this little story as much as I've enjoyed your continued support and praise. You really do an ego good: )**

**Love Always,**

**Spit-fire Extraordinaire **


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